Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to shower enclosures, shower/tub enclosures, saunas and other walled bathing enclosures. More particularly, it relates to assemblies used to align and connect sections of such enclosures.
Bathing enclosures are often provided with tiled surrounding walls. However, the process of creating tiled walls is labor intensive, time consuming and requires considerable skill (and thus can be quite costly).
A lower cost alternative is to create a prefabricated enclosure from a plastic or other suitable material at a factory and then transport the enclosure to the installation site. However, many shower stalls are 48 to 60 inches wide. Further, combined bathtub/shower enclosures are now increasingly popular. Some of such structures, if formed and transported as a single piece, may be too big to fit into elevators or through conventional doorways. This makes it impossible for them to be used to replace existing plumbing in completed buildings, and greatly restricts what stage of construction the products must be delivered. In any event, the larger the product, the more difficult it is to carry up stairways or elsewhere.
Thus, the art developed xe2x80x9cknockdownxe2x80x9d type enclosures that are formed in multiple pieces that can be assembled on-site from smaller components. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,316,295, 4,471,501, 4,578,832, and 5,263,208, and Canadian patent 1,276,404. These enclosures may be shipped in separate pieces, or they may be shipped as a single structure and then disassembled immediately before bringing them into buildings.
A designer of such enclosures must address how to avoid leaks at the seams between sections, how to align clamping elements together with a minimal number of workers and within a minimum amount of time, and the cost of creating the attachment members adjacent the seams. Further, long term reliability of the attachment mechanism is critical.
In systems where blocks are attached to separate upper and lower sections and then bolted together (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,471,501 and 4,578,832) it can be difficult to manually align the component enclosure sections to a sufficient degree so that the walls of the sections are flush and so that bolts can be easily inserted into holes within the blocks/brackets. This may require two or more workers to repetitively adjust the alignment until all the bolts can be inserted. In certain circumstances it is sufficiently difficult to align the existing holes of the blocks that new holes must be drilled in the blocks for the bolts.
Alternatively, in a system like Canadian patent 1,276,404, where the blocks of the upper panel must be slid onto guide pins projecting up from the lower blocks, it is necessary to blindly fit the shafts of the upper blocks onto the guide pins. There may be considerable difficulty in achieving proper alignment, particularly if panel sections have warped slightly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,208 sought to address a number of these design concerns, and made substantial progress in that regard. However, the system disclosed in that patent required three different types of connection structures (a locator, a clamp and a separate alignment system). Also, the assembly was somewhat less intuitive than other systems, and further had somewhat higher cost than was optimal.
As such, a need still exists for improved systems for assembling xe2x80x9cknockdownxe2x80x9d type shower stalls.
In one aspect the present invention provides a bathing enclosure of the type having a multi-piece plumbing fixture wall structure. The structure has a first portion and a second portion (e.g. an upper section of enclosure walls and a lower section of a portion of the enclosure wall with a bathtub). The first portion has walls with edges which can be essentially aligned with opposed edges of walls of the second portion so as to define a seam there between.
The improvement of the present invention is that there is now a series of clamping/alignment components which facilitate the alignment and secure connection of the structure portions. There is a first support having a base mounted on the first portion of the wall structure, the first support having an internal channel extending there through and an outward projection. There is also a second support having a base mounted on the second portion of the wall structure, the second support also having an internal channel extending there through and an outward projection.
There is also a clip that is positionable over both the outward projection of the first support and the outward projection of the second support when the internal channel of the first support and the internal channel of the second support are essentially aligned. A preferred way of such positioning is to slide the clip along a vertical axis of both the supports.
There is also a fastener capable of being positioned in both the internal channel of the first support and the internal channel of the second support when the channels are so essentially aligned. This clamps the wall structure portions together, and can also optionally be used to loosely anchor the wall structure parts while the upper portion is being raised to provide a gap for adding silicone or other sealant to the seam between the upper and lower parts.
In preferred forms the outer projections are essentially C-shaped in cross section and the clip is essentially C-shaped in cross section, the internal channels both have a plurality of inwardly directing projections, and the clip and supports interfit using inward protrusions and notches.
In another preferred form both bases have feet sections that mount against the respective wall structure portions. There is an opening along the respective lengths of the internal channels between the respective feet of the respective supports. The fastener is in the form of a bolt having an enlarged head, a threaded end opposite from the head, and a clamping nut threadable on the opposite end.
In another form the invention provides a method of assembling a first portion and a second portion of a bathing enclosure together. One obtains the above enclosure, where there is also a second set of such supports, clip and fastener, and positions the wall structures in rough alignment. One then inserts the fastener in one set of supports and a washer between another set of supports.
The present system is designed to allow the clips to drive the supports into proper alignment, while allowing some relative movement of the upper section of the wall structure with respect to the lower section (until the final bolting is completed). Only one type of fastener assembly is needed, thereby reducing the number of parts needed.
The bathing enclosure is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, creates a tight, leak-proof seam, and is designed to be reliable on a long term basis.